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Ascending slowly is the best way to avoid altitude sickness. [9] Avoiding strenuous activity such as skiing, hiking, etc. in the first 24 hours at high altitude may reduce the symptoms of AMS. Alcohol and sleeping pills are respiratory depressants, and thus slow down the acclimatization process and should be avoided.
The effects of high altitude on humans are mostly the consequences of reduced partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere. The medical problems that are direct consequence of high altitude are caused by the low inspired partial pressure of oxygen, which is caused by the reduced atmospheric pressure, and the constant gas fraction of oxygen in ...
High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is a medical condition in which the brain swells with fluid because of the physiological effects of traveling to a high altitude. It generally appears in patients who have acute mountain sickness and involves disorientation, lethargy, and nausea among other symptoms.
CMS was first described in 1925 by Carlos Monge Medrano, a Peruvian doctor who specialised in diseases of high altitude. [3] While acute mountain sickness is experienced shortly after ascent to high altitude, chronic mountain sickness may develop only after many years of living at high altitude. In medicine, high altitude is defined as over ...
High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a life-threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema that occurs in otherwise healthy people at altitudes typically above 2,500 meters (8,200 ft). [2] HAPE is a severe presentation of altitude sickness .
Acetazolamide, sold under the trade name Diamox among others, is a medication used to treat glaucoma, epilepsy, acute mountain sickness, periodic paralysis, idiopathic intracranial hypertension (raised brain pressure of unclear cause), heart failure and to alkalinize urine.
It is primarily used for treating severe cases of altitude sickness, [2] [3] high-altitude cerebral edema, and high-altitude pulmonary edema. [4] Like office-based hyperbaric medicine, the Gamow bag uses increased partial pressure of oxygen for therapy of hypobaric injury but has the advantage of portability for field use.
These hypoxia-related illnesses include acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude pulmonary edema, and high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). [6] High-altitude cerebral edema is a severe and sometimes fatal form of altitude sickness that results from capillary fluid leakage due to the effects of hypoxia on the mitochondria -rich endothelial ...